If you’re heading into the blogosphere looking to launch your own blog, beware: It’s tough out there. The Internet is saturated with writing — news companies jostling for readers, content mills chasing advertising dollars, average people shouting from their digital soap boxes. In this tide of words, how can you ensure that the readers you’re looking for manage to find your blog? That your content is appreciated and shared?

You can debate all you want about search engine optimization (the process of improving your websites visibility by tailoring it to the criteria of search engines, like Google), but don’t forget the simple truths of good writing. In many ways, Internet blogging is no different than what you learned in English class: have a message that you simply articulate to your audience.

To that end, let’s examine what you can do to improve the quality of your blog posts:

1. Write about what you know.
Your first step to winning an audience is understanding your strengths. Be honest with yourself and try this exercises: Make three columns — “expert,” “understand” and “pass.” Fill in the expert list with every topic you gab about to your friends and family on a regular basis — and don’t forget the college courses where you earned an A. These are your “expert” subjects, the ones you know and know how to fluidly research. Your “understand” column should be filled with subjects that you are confident about and could prepare a presentation about, if with notes. Everything else? It falls in the “pass” column.

2. Distinguish yourself from your competition.
Use your “expert” topics to research the competition. There is no point in starting a blog if the competition is thick and entrenched to the point that you could not poke through with all your effort. In that case, you should break down your “expert” category into smaller pieces. Love classical music? Too broad. Can you specialize in Baroque, Beethoven or bass arias? See if you can specialize without becoming obscure.

3. Read, read, read.
If you truly want to write, the way forward is to read everything you can get your eyeballs on, especially if it’s written by the competition. Look for what you like as much as what you don’t like. Besides keeping you informed about what is out there and what is being produced, being an avid reader will make you keenly aware of the conventions of writing, of what works and what doesn’t work. This knowledge will prove invaluable when it comes to your writing. It’s akin to navigating a maze after watching dozens of others do it before you — you’ll already know the ins and outs.

4. Utilize keywords.
Regardless of which topic you’re writing about, you’ll face those seemingly unavoidable words that repeat. When writing anything other than a blog, these are the words that writers are conscious of and try to avoid to keep their work from feeling uncreative and repetitive. But this principle gets turned on its head when blogging. This is one concession you’ll have to give to SEO over good ol’ fashioned writing because repetitive use of keywords will make you writing easier to find via search engines.

Let’s go back to Beethoven for a moment: If you’re blogging about the composer and want to attract readers entering “Beethoven” into search engines, then you have to be sure to have that keyword (“Beethoven”) in your title, and early on in the body of your writing, and frequently in the body of your writing. The repetition of they keyword helps a search engine understand that your writing is in fact about Beethoven, which will help the search engine guide users looking for Beethoven to your page.

5. Find your voice.
Back to traditional writing tips: Blogs develop a following because the author / blogger has a specific tone and style that comes across consistently, like a popular newspaper columnist. In other words, the blogger has found his voice. Huffington Post claims 36.6 million unique monthly visitors because it has a panel of writers who know their subjects and aren’t shy about giving their opinion. Through writing about what you know, being an active reader and distinguishing yourself from the competition, you should be in a place where you feel comfortable to not only repeat what others are chiming but to offer up your own opinions as well. After all, if you’re not adding anything new to the discourse, why should readers visit your blog?

Image from Roy Shaff's blog

During tough financial times, it’s not enough to have a solid, well-paying job that you can at least tolerate, if not enjoy. More and more people are turning to the Internet for low-cost start-up business

ideas that will help them augment their family’s finances and earn their way to financial independence.

The online marketplace has indeed paved the way for all sorts of small enterprises to be put up and operated by just about anyone with common sense and good business skills. Now more than ever, it’s important to choose just what kind of business you should get into because you don’t want to waste what little start-up cash you’ve scraped together.

The 2008 recession is still profoundly felt in many parts of the world, and as an entrepreneur-to-be, it’s your job to ensure that your money is invested into the right money-making machinery that will provide you with good profits in the shortest time possible. Here are five of the most in-demand and most convenient ways for you to earn more in this time of great financial setbacks:

1. eBay trading assistant

eBay, one of the world’s first online marketplaces, has grown to become not just a source of great bargain buys but also as a good source of extra income. Some individuals resort to auctioning off unused or unwanted items on eBay just to make ends meet.

If you’ve ever tried selling something on eBay, you know how hard it is to capture the attention and imagination of your target market and convince them to purchase the item you’re auctioning. You can capitalize on your photography and copywriting skills and turn yourself into a professional trading assistant to help other people sell their items on eBay.

2. Freelance jobs

From software development to article writing to graphic design to website development, freelancing has become one of the most in-demand online jobs today. Put your creativity and technical proficiency to good use and sign up with any of the online freelance marketplaces today like elance.com, odesk.com or guru.com.

If you feel that you can pull off the job on your own without having to go through a middleman, you can also set up your own online agency and offer your services straight to potential customers. There are a lot of webmasters who own more than two websites, so they need other people to take care of the day-to-day content management and upkeep of their websites. As a freelancer, you get flexible work hours and pay terms and can even choose the things you want to work on.

3. Virtual assistant

A virtual assistant or VA is similar to that of a freelancer, but your creativity is not the number one thing that employers will look for. To streamline operations and cut down on labor costs, some companies simply outsource administrative tasks to VAs that they can hire online. This way, they can focus on their core business activities and still be assured that miscellaneous tasks like collating mailing lists or telemarketing are being done properly.

A VA needs good grounding in simple office tasks because you are an all-around assistant for whatever business needs your client may have. It may not be a very glamorous job but you are being trained in several different fields like accountancy, web marketing and advertising at the same time.

4. Internet marketing services

As a tech-savvy Internet marketer, it is your job to help other webmasters and bloggers to build site traffic and drive online sales despite the bad economy. This is akin to working as a business consultant, only now you are focused exclusively on Internet-based businesses that are in need of a serious boost in readership and sales.

Your first priority is to teach fellow online entrepreneurs how to make their content relevant, fresh and exciting so that site visitors will flock by the thousands and eventually end up purchasing their products or services. Not all online businessmen know the ins and outs of Internet technology, so you have to take them through the basics and teach them the tools of the trade in order to increase their profits.

5. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is yet another popular money-making enterprise that a lot of people are going into. If you run a few websites with high and consistent readership, you may want to consider signing up for an affiliate program so you can earn money from advertisements placed strategically on your web pages.

As an affiliate marketer, you don’t have to do much beyond choosing the products or services you want to advertise and putting the links on your website so that people can see them. With every click that goes from your website to the affiliate company’s website, you earn a handsome commission that can tide you over the hard times.

This is a guest post from Ally Tobias. Ally is part of the team that manages Australian Credit Cards, a personal finance blog that covers business credit card tips. You can follow ACC on Twitter if you like to stay updated on their latest contents. Before joining ACC, Ally was a Media Planner with McCann Worldgroup Philippines, Inc., with award-winning executions, including the Levi’s 501 “Live Unbuttoned” global campaign.

They have started to put together a series of interviews and Q&A sessions with different industry figures, experienced entrepreneurs, and successful business people to build a Mentor Series. Wednesday will the second event.

Head over to Under30CEO and sign up today for tomorrow’s small business mentor series with the Editor of Inc.com Mike Hofman.

Mike has been the editor of Inc.com and a deputy editor at Inc. Magazine since he joined the company in 1996. Inc.com was nominated for a National Magazine Award for Digital Media in 2010, and was named the best business website by Folio Magazine. In 2006, Hofman was part of a team of writers nominated for a Webby Award for best business blog.

The event will be about 1 hour long where all attendees will have the chance to ask Mike their small business questions. The session will open with a handful of pre-determined questions.

Don’t forget:  Wednesday, May 4th at 3PM ET

Also, if you are interested, here is a list of some of the people that are already lined up for future Mentor Series events:

• Rod Kurtz, Editor of AOL Small Business
• Mike Micalowicz, Author of The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur
• Carl Grant, Cooley LLP
• Donna Fenn, INC Magazine
• Pam Slim, Author of Escape From Cubicle Nation
• Barry Moltz, Author of BAM! Delivering Customer Service in a Self-Service World

• Free
• Navigate through multiple applications
• Collaborate with co-workers (scheduling, documents & presentations)
• Fantastic user interface

• Free again!
• Manage multiple social media accounts
• Great customer service and prospecting tool
• Segment people you follow by groups
• Track metrics and statics

• Free again!
• Save notes anywhere anytime: video, web clips, voice etc…
• Sync mobile & desktop notes
• Great video

• Not free, but only $24/mo for basic
• Manage multiple clients on a central platform
• Dead simple to use
• Web based
• Calendars, power points or to do’s all in one place!

• Back up all files on your company for $5/mo!
• Connect to WIFI and Walla
• Secure & safe

I’ve found that one of the biggest challenges of starting a company in college is learning how to manage time effectively.  There’s classes, homework, projects and oh yea…starting a company! The ability to prioritize and figure out what to do first is crucial. I’ve had a lot of trouble finding great accounting/invoicing software that isn’t a boat load of money. Freshbooks is an option but it’s primarily for invoicing, not accounting. I imagine these are only a few of the many great tools out there. I would love to hear some more recommendations, what do you use?

This is a guest post submitted by Brett Kopf who is the Co-founder of remind101 & Social Bonfire, @brettkopf

Thanks to the unique environment furnished by college campuses, students hoping to start their own businesses have a variety of resources to draw upon.

Social Support

Many traditional entrepreneurs start their business ventures with very little social support or advice to guide them.  Students, on the other hand, are often involved in a variety of social circles and groups.  There are a variety of opportunities to network with other young people who share similar interests and drive.  College is a place where most people are still unencumbered with family and full-time work obligations.  Friends can be excellent sources of support and advice.

Professional Advice

Young entrepreneurs seeking expert advice must only look as far as their university’s faculty directory.  Professors are generally happy to help a student that is enthusiastic about their field of research or interest.  Whatever subject you want to discuss, from marketing strategies to product design, there is almost certainly a college professor who will point you in the right direction.

Finding a mentor

If at all possible, find a mentor.  Possible mentors abound on college campuses. Whether your mentor is the chair of the business school or a successful MBA student, having a mentor provides a wide variety of learning opportunities.

An A for effort

Most colleges offer credit for extra curricular projects that fall within your field of study.  It is not uncommon for business schools to offer undergraduate credit to students who attempt to start their own business. Generally, a professor is assigned to supervise and sign off on the student’s efforts. Many colleges also offer the option of completing a senior honors thesis based upon your extra-curricular work. Even if the business proves to be less-than-successful, you still have something positive to show for it on your academic record.

Social Networking

College can be a great place to network.  The student body of an average state university hails from all corners of the globe. Social networking sites make the task of keeping in touch easier than it has ever been before.   Your roommate from Beijing who shares your love of green technology might be the key to taking your fledgling business multi-national.  At the very least, you’ll make tons of friends.

This is a guest post written by Alexis Bonari. Alexis is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is a passionate blogger on the topic of education and free college scholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

The sale is over, but the book is still an amazing one to pick up!

If you have big dreams for your blog but have been putting improving it in the ‘one day’ basket – you’re not alone.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog is a downloadable e-book from Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net designed to help you revitalize your blog by giving you 31 tasks that will all help to turn it into the page view powerhouse you’ve always dreamed of.

Each day in the project contains:

1. A Task – something to DO that day.
2. Teaching – each day you’ll be given great instruction on both the WHY and HOW of the task of the day.

This two pronged approach is designed so that you come away from the challenge having not only learned how to build a dynamic a blog but you’ll have actually DONE something with the knowledge.

How to Use the Workbook

While originally designed for bloggers to work through over a month – the feedback that we’ve been hearing from bloggers indicates that 31DBBB is being used in a variety of ways including:

• Intense Training – bloggers setting aside weekends or weeks to go through multiple tasks at once
• 1 Task a Day – the way we designed it – one day at a time
• 1 Task a Week – bloggers taking their time with the challenge and making the tasks week long tasks
• Monthly Cycle – bloggers using the tasks again and again each month as a monthly routine for their blogging.
• Occasional Inspirational Resource – bloggers dipping into 31DBBB on a more occasional basis – using it on days when they have time or lack inspiration.

The great thing about 31DBBB is that you can do it at your own pace and in your own way.

Who is this Workbook for?

31 Days to Build a Better Blog is for bloggers at different stages of their blogging including:

• those who have just started a blog but who don’t know what to do next
• those who have had a blog for a while but it’s stalled in its growth
• bloggers with bloggers block and lacking inspiration

This workbook is NOT designed for bloggers yet to start a blog (PreBloggers). It doesn’t cover setting up a blog. If that’s you check out the ProBlogger book which covers this aspect of blogging.

By the end of the 31 Days you’ll have:

• written a variety of different types and styles of posts
• learned techniques for coming up with new post ideas
• promoted your blog in a variety of ways
• built relationships with readers
• reached out to and developed working relationships with other bloggers
• developed an editorial calendar for your blog going forward
• discovered ways to be more connected to your niche/topic
• designed a plan for the next month of your blogging

All in all the daily tasks are 31 steps to transform you blog into a valuable online asset.

3 New Year Bonuses

Bonus #1: Free Report: 9 Things to Do to Get Your Blog On Track in The New Year
Bonus #2: Podcast with Leo Babauta from Zen Habits
Bonus #3: Podcast with Neil Patel from QuickSprout

There are less than 2 days to get the bonuses, and the half price discount. This book normally sells for $40, here is your chance to get so much more for so much less at just $19.95. I just picked up my copy and plan on starting reading it tomorrow, but I wanted to pass along the great savings and opportunity to you all! Go check it out now! Click here to view more details

Definitely go check out the full post for a list of all the sites and hopefully you will find some new ones to follow. But, also, thank you to you all for continuing to support Dorm Room Biz and help to build the site up to what it is today!

Happy New Year,

Chris

Izea sure is filled with a bunch of characters! Whether it was Ted Murphy or someone else who found these crazy turkey hats, well, my hats off to you! I’m way behind in writing about this but still wanted to share some of the craziness with you all!

Back a week or two before Thanksgiving, I saw a tweet from the folks at Izea asking if people would like to receive a Thanksgiving care package. I responded with my address and waited patiently. I knew what was in the box, but still wanted it to show up quickly as I was leaving for Washington state for the holiday and wanted to have the hat for that trip. It would have been hilarious, in my mind, when meeting my wife’s grandparents for the first time, to have the turkey hat on – what a way to celebrate the holiday! But, it didn’t show up by the time I left and I had actually forgotten about the package until I picked it up the following Monday.

All of the sudden, my giddiness of a school boy came back and I was excited to open it up. Inside, well there was simply a flyer wishing a Happy Thanksgiving, the wonderful Turkey hat, and a bottles of Jones soda…and not just normal cola, but a Tofurky and Gravy Jones Soda Yum, not!

Now, there is no way in hell I was going to taste the soda, because I can only imagine how gross it is. Or, it could actually be really good, I have no idea and no desire to know haha. If you got a similar package from Izea, I’d love to hear if you tried to soda and what you thought of it. I mean I do like Turkey and Gravy, but just the thought of those flavors in a liquid form…no thanks. But, the bottle will sit on my shelf and be a funny item to pull out when showing people our house and my office!

Maybe I need to start a Jones Soda collection of unique flavors? BTW, my Wife didn’t find the humor in the turkey hat…

So, I encourage you to head over to Guide To Online Schools site to view the full list. There are some great resources on there for students and future college students! Dorm Room Biz is listed under the Campus Life section at#59.

In my short video review of the book Bootstrapping: Weapons of Mass Reconstruction by Sramana Mitra, I mentioned that she brings up the topic of mental capital. At many points throughout the book, Sramana talks about why entrepreneurs and start-ups should not go looking for venture capital, but instead focus on bootstrapping their business…hence the name of the book.

As a substitute for venture capital, she recommends getting as much mental capital as you can. Mental capital is the idea of utilizing the people around you (friends, family, mentors, and other business people) as your mental investors. It sounds pretty simple though – instead of going after venture capital (real money to surge into your business), bootstrap your business and gather as much mental capital (knowledge from other entrepreneurs, mentors, and business people) as you can. The mental capital that gets invested in your business by other people around you can be so much more beneficial to you and your company that it would worth more than any amount of venture capital.

As a young entrepreneur it’s important to soak up and get as much mental capital as you can. Talk with everyone around you, and more importantly, listen to everyone. Ask questions, discuss your business, get feedback, and then use it! If you’re a student entrepreneur, you even have another huge advantage over other young (recently out of college) entrepreneurs – you have so many more resources on campus: Your professors, library, resource centers, etc. Utilize them all, now.

Don’t let peoples suggestions just glaze over your head or in one ear and out the other. Be thankful for the time that people spend in giving you feedback, ideas, considerations, and sharing their contacts with you.

Now, go out there and get as much mental capital as you can and you will crush it.